The second edition of The Lotto Goalkeeper Battle was launched during a press conference which was held on Tuesday at the Lotto outlet at The Point. This year’s edition will be held on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd June a the Infetti Football Ground, Birkirkara.

Hibernians goalkeeper Mario Muscat, who is one of the organisers, said that after last year’s successful first edition thanks to the high level of goalkeeping, this edition will be open to all goalkeepers from the Premier Division to the goalkeepers aged seven.

Unlike last year, the competition will be held over two days. The first phase, which will be played on Saturday, will be the group stage played on a league basis with the winner and runner-up in each group moving on to the Knock-Out stage which will be played on Sunday. The challenge consists of games with one goalkeeper against another. The time for each game will be four minutes – two minutes each half.

In the group stage, there will be eight groups of four goalkeepers with each goalkeeper playing a minimun of three games.

Muscat said the organisers were careful to hold this event in June in order not to clash with other MFA and Youth FA fixtures.

Simon Grech said that challenge is divided into eight categories – Under-9, Under-11, Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 and the two new categories – Seniors and Girls.

The Seniors category is open to all goalkeepers from the Premier League, First, Second and Third Division and Futsal. Participants need not be members of a club or nursery to take part in any of the categories.

There will be prizes for the top three goalkeepers, designed by Simon Grech and produced by Bristow Potteries. All participants will be presented with a medal.

Application forms may be obtained from the San Gwann Ground on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays in the afternoon, from the Lotto outlet in The Point and Di Milano in Paola. Application forms are also available from clubs and nurseries. The closing date is the 20th May.

The organisers thanked the sponsors and Birkirkara mayor Michael Fenech Adami as this event is being held in collaboration with the Birkirkara Local Council.